Two Emmy Nominations for ABC News Poll in Iraq

ABC News reports based on the network’s exclusive public opinion polling in Iraq received two Emmy award nominations from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences today, for “Best Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast” and “Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast.”

They’re among 13 news Emmy nominations for the network this year, and the sixth and seventh since 2004 to cite ABC News polls. ABC has gone on to win two Emmys for its “Iraq – Where Things Stand” poll reporting, in 2005 – the first Emmy to cite a public opinion poll – and again last year. ABC polling previously was cited in a 2004 Emmy nomination for "Critical Condition: Healthcare in America," including an extensive survey of Americans’ attitudes on health care issues.

This year’s nomination is for coverage of ABC’s March 2008 survey in Iraq, a poll that found security and economic gains reversing the country’s spiral of despair and sharply improving Iraqis' hopes for the future – but with deep problems remainining in areas including security, living conditions, reconciliation and political progress.

The survey was conducted for ABC News and its partners the BBC, ARD German TV and the Japanese broadcaster NHK, with in-person interviews of a random national sample of 2,228 Iraqi adults Feb. 12-20, 2008. Field work was by D3 Systems of Vienna, Va., and KA Research Ltd. of Istanbul.

ABC reported the results on its television and radio networks and ABCNews.com, where coverage included a detailed analysis of results, a summary of field worker journals, photos from the field and a slideshow of charts.

ABC followed with another poll in Iraq, the sixth since 2004, this past February; it’s also sponsored four national surveys in Afghanistan, with field work by the Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research in Kabul. (Click here for a summary of all polls in the ongoing "Where Things Stand" project.) ABC’s 2005 polls in Iraq and Afghanistan won the inaugural Iowa Gallup Award for Excellent Journalism Using Polls from the University of Iowa School of Journalism and The Gallup Organization, and the 2006 award for Excellence in Media Coverage of Polls from the National Council on Public Polls.

Emmy winners will be announced Sept. 21 in an awards ceremony at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center in New York.